6:16 A light you will make to the coffer ( ark ), and to a cubit you shall finish it above;
and the opening to the coffer ( ark ) you will place in its side; with lower, second,
and third floors you will do it.

Yes, our view of the ark Noah built is rather fuzzy and many artists have provided
various concepts of how Noah's ark could have been constructed. But, from what
little we know, how could an early man such as Noah having very little technology have
constructed such a large floating structure?

Noah needed something that will float in very extreme circumstances so why not
start out with a basic concept of a large log raft or barge. "Build a barge of cypress
wood" from "A New Translation of the Bible" by James Moffatt.

A large log raft used in the past to float logs
down from the northwest to San Diego.

The common cypress, native to the Mediterranean region, is a symmetrical
evergreen that resembles some poplars and often reaches a height of more than
90 ft. It has a close-grained yellow or reddish wood so resinous that it resists
rotting even after prolonged submersion in water so it is an ideal wood to
make sure our ark stays afloat and without having a sealed hull. Using a two
layer approach, one longitudinal and one cross ways would provide good stability
and strength in both directions. Since we don't want Noah to have to make large
chains for tying them together as shown in the above photo we will have to assume
that Noah and his family have mastered the technology of rope making from vines or
made from dried prairie grass. Obviously having an axe to prepare the logs would
be great, but as one thinks of it, not really necessary, sharpened hand stones
could be used in log preparation. A two layer log raft base would take about 450 two
foot diameter logs 75 feet long. And if he, Noah, didn't want to cut his own
logs he could steal them from beavers (see note 1) for although they usually selects trees 2 to 8 inches
in diameter, they can fell trees with diameters as large as 30 inches.
Noah could even study the beaver to learn techniques since colonies of beavers
often dig canals from the pond to a grove of trees. Such canals are up to 3 ft wide
and deep and often a few hundred yards long. The timber is then readily floated
down the canal. If Noah disturbed a beaver's dam they would cut new logs to
repair it and continue this cycle until he gets enough logs. (Where there is a will
there is a way!)

Now, for the upper part of Noah's ark, consider a pole and beam structure of cypress
poles with thatch covering the sides and the top. Thatch roofs have been known to withstand winds
of up to 100 miles an hour and to last 40-60 years.

Thatching a roof.

Noah was instructed to provide pitch covering for the ark on the outside and inside of the walls which would serve as a protective
coating and maybe even to keep the passengers
from eating the walls. Obviously, thatching is also a natural for nest construction.

Weaverbird nests and a commune of weaverbird nests.
The Hebrew word translated as rooms/nests can also imply
the material of the nest, the reeds or grass

A depiction of an ancient Egyptian reed boat.
Remains of pitch covered reed boats used in the Euphrates river have been discovered in eastern turkey
that have been dated to about 3800 BC (see Appendix A) and from Kuwait an even older,
about 5000 BC, ocean-going reed boat used in the Persian Gulf.

For Noah and his family the big job for the thatching would be to gather all the required grass, dry it,
weave the rope, tie it onto the framework, and pitch it inside and out.

The actual construction details for the light for the ark is difficult to
understand from the description given. Many have envisioned it as a sort of cupola
along the top center line. Also one can interpret the Scriptures to indicate that
the side covering of the ark was to go up to within one cubit, about 18 inches, of the top,
thus allowing this opening all around for light and ventilation. "Put an 18-inch opening
in the ark all around ..." from "The Modern Language Bible: The New Berkeley Version
in Modern English".

And many have envisioned the opening in the side of Noah's ark to be a combined door and entrance
ramp for loading all the animals and their food into the ark.

Now that we have solved all the construction details. How about provisions for the passengers.

6:19 And from every living thing of all flesh, two of all to come into
the coffer ( box, chest, ark ), to keep alive with you; male and female they will be,

6:20 from the flying creature after their kind, and from the cattle after their kind, from every creeping thing
of the earth after its kind, two from all will come to you to keep
alive.

6:21 And you take for yourself of all eatable that is eaten, and you will gather to
yourself; and let it be for you and for them for eating.

7:2 From every creature clean will you take to yourself seven by seven, a man and his woman;
and the creature that not clean it by two , a man and his woman;

7:3 of the flying creature of the skies seven by seven, a male and his female, to
keep alive seed upon the face of all the earth.

The list of "clean" and "not clean" animals that Noah was to collect is not a very long list and includes
only those animals that man might consider eating that lived in the localized area.
But, many have long said that
it is Noah's job "to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth" (King James Version).
However, most often when the Scriptures uses the Hebrew word for all or
every it is a localized all, not a global all! (see All is How Big?) Obviously,
the logical way is to put all the larger heavier animals on the bottom floor and the smaller
animals and birds in the two upper stories of nests in the ark. Many of the passengers would possibly help Noah and naturally
construct their own nests if materials were readily available. Noah and family would seem to have to stay most
of the time on the lower floor to take care of the feeding and clean up chores.

Not often discussed is that Noah's ark was also a food warehouse! So Noah must also
include nests for food storage, enough food for a little over a year and probably enough
for a short time after the flood until vegetation for food can grow back in the area. Per verse 8:11 we
know that olive leaves were growing before they left the ark. The olive tree normally
grows below 5000 feet altitude.

Conclusion: We have discussed a possible low-technology version of the
ark for those who have expressed the opinion that an early man such as Noah was not capable
of building such a structure. Remember, the Hebrew text never says that it was
a ship or boat, instead says it was a box, a large box, but never the less a box, and as
such Noah would not require a high level of technology for its construction. As mentioned
with what can be learned from the beaver, most of the techniques could have been
learned from observing the animals and the birds in their nest construction.

Here is a floating ark model, about 1:150 scale.

Note 1: Beaver, semiaquatic mammal noted for the building of dams. One species
of beaver occurs in North America, the other in Eurasia. The two species differ
chiefly in the shape of the nasal bones and are so much alike that some authorities
consider them to be varieties of the same species. They are large rodents; the
average adult beaver weighs about 35 lbs., but specimens as heavy
as 90 lbs. have been found, and some extinct beavers were almost bear like
in size.

Book overview:
Kids love working on practical projects to help take care of the Earth; they are often the family's biggest proponents of recycling. This book will attract those eco-friendly kids and teach them how creation care can actually draw them closer to God. Each devotion includes a Scripture verse, a "Connection" section to help kids apply both the biblical and environmental lessons, and a "What Can I Do?" section with a takeaway activity. Jokes and fun facts are also included throughout the devotion to make this book fun, informative, and interesting to readers.

Appendix A: Bitumen Artifacts at Hacinebi Tepe, Anatolia, Turkey

Bitumen is a naturally occurring petroleum-based tar-like
material. Mixed with tempering materials it was widely used and traded in the
ancient Near East as a material for waterproofing, as a building material, and
as an adhesive. More than 400 bitumen artifacts have been recovered from all
the fourth millennium phases (A-B1-B2) at Hacinebi. Chemical compositional
analyses permit the identification of bitumen sources, and by extension, the
reconstruction of fourth millennium exchange systems. The inhabitants of
Hacinebi imported bitumen from a variety of sources in Anatolia, North Syria,
south Mesopotamia, and southwestern Iran.

Northwestern News

Earliest River Boats May Have Carried
Petroleum

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Recently discovered boat fragments found
at the site of Hacinebi in southeast Turkey offer evidence of
the world’s earliest riverboats and the earliest transport of
trade goods -- including petroleum products -- by river,
according to Mark Schwartz, a graduate student in anthropology
at Northwestern University, whose findings were published in
the fall edition of the British archaeological journal,
Antiquity.

The only direct evidence linked to the world’s first boats
to travel by river, rather than by sea, Schwartz’s finds
bolster scholars’ understanding of the early development of
maritime technology and its tie to transportation and trade
during the very early stages of the development of
civilization.

While finds in the Persian Gulf demonstrate early transport
on oceans, it was river trade that played a greater part in
the development of the earliest civilizations both in terms of
the sheer volume of goods moved and the strength of the trade
routes.

Dating to 3800 B.C., the fragments are remnants of the
bitumen (natural petroleum tar) coating placed on early reed
boats to waterproof them. Evidence suggests that the
bitumen-coated boats also were likely to have carried
petroleum products as cargo. Coupled with chemical sourcing
data from Hacinebi, Schwartz’s discovery points to the
earliest form of the petroleum trade in the Near East.

"With all the current, heated discussions about the
petroleum industry in the Near East, it is ironic that the
world’s earliest river boats in this area -- and indeed the
world -- were also transporting petroleum," said Schwartz.

The presence of the waterproofed boats provides a more
complete picture of the ancient exchange economy of southeast
Anatolia. The fragments directly document the boat’s
connection to a trading center and the first time boats were
used to transport trade goods on a river system."

Much of the research on trade and transport in the Near
East has focused on Mesopotamia, where the world’s first
cities appeared during the fourth millennium. But this boat
find and the site of Hacinebi lie outside of the "heartland of
cities." While evidence does point to trade with southern
Mesopotamia (present day Iraq) during the later phases of
Hacinebi’s history, excavations, led by Gil Stein, the
director of the Oriental Institute of the University of
Chicago, suggest that the site played an important role in
local Anatolian trade even before the arrival of merchants
from Mesopotamia.

"The presence of local trade goods such as copper, shell
and chlorite at the site along with our recent discovery of
the early reed boat fragments demonstrate that the people of
Hacinebi were developing impressive long-distance exchange
relationships on their own before the arrival of
Mesopotamians," said Schwartz.

The people of Hacinebi were involved in early metallurgy
and likely were using bitumen-covered boats to transport
copper ore, among other items, down the Euphrates from the
Ergani source 200km north in the river. The Hacinebi area was
historically an important place for trade and transport.

Stable carbon and hydrogen isotope analyses performed by
Schwartz, with David Hollander of the University of South
Florida, suggest that bitumen was transported to the site from
at least three different Anatolian sources and document a
non-Mesopotamian, Anatolian source of bitumen for the reed
boat coating. The fragments show distinct impressions of reed
bundles and rope and clearly document ancient boat building
and the widespread use of this ancient technology.

Modern reconstruction of ancient reed boats try to depict
these types of vessels, but bitumen is rarely used on them,
making them prone to water logging and/or rotting.

"The fact that the ancient people of Hacinebi took the time
to waterproof their reed boats demonstrates a high degree of
investment," said Schwartz. "These boats were meant to last,
and the very thick coating signifies a boat that was much
larger than a simple canoe."

These findings relate directly to recent discoveries from
Kuwait which point to even older (5000 B.C.) ocean-going reed
boats in the Persian Gulf.

"Taken together, these finds point to interesting parallels
between different regions and cultures and reinforce each
other’s validity," said Schwartz. "You may be able to refute
that one
find of reed-impressed bitumen is not part of a reed boat,
but it is much more difficult to argue against many finds from
different areas and time-periods of the Near East."

Ethnographic records point to the existence of reed boats
in many cultures throughout the world including the Sudan,
coastal Peru, lake Titicaca, New Zealand and the marshes of
southern Iraq. The boats in the Near East were constructed in
similar ways -- reed bundles waterproofed with bitumen
--illustrating ingenuity in the construction of impressive
watercraft with simple materials that ancient people found
nearby.

The discoveries were all found at sites where trade is
believed to have played an important role in ancient
economies. Many ancient societies such as Egypt, Mesopotamia,
and Harrappa used riverine trade routes extensively in the
formative stages of their development. It was only after they
had been states for a few hundred years that they relied on
long-distance trade on the world’s oceans.

Shipping timber, stone, copper and bitumen down the
Euphrates River would have been relatively cheap, quick and
efficient means of supplying a developing society with
materials it needed to grow and flourish.

While many ancient civilizations were started on rivers for
agricultural reasons, trade on these rivers was an important
outgrowth and a key ingredient for their development.

"With all of the recent advances in technology, water
transport is still the most efficient way to move cargo and
goods long distances," said Schwartz. "Even though the
Euphrates has always been a dangerous river to navigate, these
ancient merchants had a lot of incentive to engage in this
early version of the petroleum industry."

Appendix B: Genetic and Linguistic Studies Point toward the
Location and the Time.

All people are related, but "In the article in the November 2001 issue of The American Journal of Human Genetics,
Ariella Oppenheim of the Hebrew University of Israel wrote that this new study
revealed that Jews have a closer genetic relationship to populations in the
northern Mediterranean (Kurds, Anatolian Turks, and Armenians) than to populations
in the southern Mediterranean (Arabs and Bedouins)." (from http://www.barzan.com/ kevin_brook.htm)

Also:

"A family tree of Indo-European languages suggests they began to
spread and split about 9,000 years ago. The finding hints that
farmers in what is now Turkey drove the language boom - and not
later Siberian horsemen, as some linguists reckon. ... Around this time,
farming techniques began to spread out of
Anatolia - now Turkey - across Europe and Asia, archaeological evidence shows."
(From "Language tree rooted in Turkey" by John Whitfield, http://www.nature.com/
nsu/nsu_pf/ 031124/ 031124-6.html)

Both of these studies would place the location in the Ararat area since we have
recorded (Genesis 11:2-9) that soon after the flood they migrated out of the mountainous regions from
the east. Then soon after that the multiple languages were developed as their speech
was confused and then from there they were scattered. Also the linguistic study places the scattering to
about 9,000 years ago for those of the Indo-European languages, therefore, the flood
would be sometime prior to 9,000 years ago.

Very interestingly "11,600 years ago marked the beginning of the Rule of Mortal
Humans on Earth according to Manetho (Egyptian historian ca. 343 BC)" prior to that was
"Rule by Demigods and Spirits of the Dead (followers of Horus)".
(from http://www.innerx.net/ personal/ tsmith/ iceciv.html)
A very close correspondence to the indicated termination of the Younger Dryas (11,550 +-70 B.P.
per the GRIP ice core data)
and the time we would choose as the most likely time of the flood and Noah's ark, and soon afterward
the tribes would start multiplying and migrating from the "Ararat" area into lower
lands of the most northern part of the fertile crescent where the archaeologists
have uncovered the first evidences of large
scale farming and community building, around 10,000 to 11,000 B.P..

The New York Times:
"How the First Farmers Colonized the Mediterranean" by Nicholas Wade,August 11, 2008